


Morituro

by notkai



Category: Topp Dogg (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Arson, Blood and Violence, Death, Murder, Organized Crime, Stabbing, also death, but u should read nequizia anyway itll help ur understanding, god how do i tag this, its....a lot, this wont not make sense if u havent read nequizia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-17 01:55:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11841537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notkai/pseuds/notkai
Summary: Hojoon is assigned a joint case.Sequel to Nequizia.





	Morituro

**Author's Note:**

> man i just love murder hojoon so much soz im not really writing anything ive kind of lost motivation

For someone who worked as a hitman, Hojoon considered his job to be fairly tame. It wasn’t like he had to deal with pesky coworkers or idiot customers. He was given his assignments and paid accordingly when he completed them. It was clean cut, and he liked it that way. He assumed the other anonymous members of the underground organized crime network that he functioned in preferred this sort of environment as well. 

That is, until he was assigned the same damn task as two other network members.

To be fair, it wasn’t their fault. Sehyuk had purposefully assigned both of them the same client, and for no good reason- at least not one that Hojoon could think of. Maybe he was hoping one would kill the other and free up room in the network for a new member. 

Hojoon hoped that was the case. His ‘competition’ came in the form of two immature, arrogant arsonists by the name of Sangwon and Sanggyun. At least, he thought those were their real names. For a long time, he’d just addressed them as ‘short stuff’ and ‘long hair’. 

He was at home, ordering more magazines for his pistol from a close friend on the deep web. His mind was only half present, though. The conversation held between himself, Sehyuk, and the two arsonists earlier was still replaying in his mind.

 

_ “I have a new client who wants the owner of a local pharmaceutical company taken out. His name his Tristan Dacus.” Sehyuk handed Hojoon and the arsonist duo identical files containing the man’s location and other personal information, which had all been collected by one Shin Yooncheul. He was their top tracker.  _

_ Hojoon skimmed the file before raising his gaze to Sehyuk. “You’re not expecting this to be some sort of group effort, right?” There was no way in hell he’d work with Sanggyun and Sangwon.  _

_ A smirk that made Hojoon uneasy played on Sehyuk’s lips. “Not quite. I’m assigning this to the both of you.” Even though there were three of them, Sangwon and Sanggyun worked closely enough that people referred to them as one collective unit. Hojoon was pretty sure they were fucking, but he didn’t care to know the details. “I don’t expect you to work together. Rather, I want to see who can complete this assignment faster. Consider this a sort of impromptu skill assessment.” _

_ It was a bullshit excuse to say the least- Hojoon theorized that Sehyuk just wanted bloodshed. “Does the ‘winner’ get some kind of bonus?”   _

_ Sehyuk fixed Hojoon with a steely gaze. “Yes. Their life.”  _

_ Sanggyun arched a brow, his expression clearly asking if Sehyuk really meant for them to kill each other in an attempt to fulfill this one assignment. But the alternative was, likely, Sehyuk killing whoever surrendered first.  _

_ “Fine. When do we start?” _

 

Hojoon finished his purchase and sighed, staring at the generic background screen of his laptop after closing the window. This was one of the first times he’d ever felt nervous about a job- his first one had been exciting, above all, and every job after that was pleasing. But he’d never been worried.

He couldn’t quite figure out why, either. As far as he was concerned, arsonists were little threat. Their weapon needed time to kill, whereas a bullet could be shot from a gun in less than a second. Both Sanggyun and Sangwon had training with guns, and Sanggyun wasn’t unskilled with a knife, but they were both young and cocky. Hojoon was positive that their arrogance would be their downfall. 

Hojoon shut the laptop with a little more force than necessary. Anger bubbled in his gut as he thought about Sehyuk even looking at Sanggyun and Sangwon as equal to Hojoon. He had been in this circuit for longer- he was more experienced, more mature, and more cautious. There was no way he would let himself die to a couple of amateur arsonists.

No. And he would prove it to Sehyuk by bringing their bodies to him. 

 

Two days of half-assed scouting the guy’s house and becoming familiar with how his security system worked passed before Hojoon decided it was time to actually do something. He waited until nearly three in the morning, dressed in a deep grey dress shirt and black slacks, to leave his house and drive into his to-be victim’s suburb. He parked a half-block away, in the parking lot of some drug-cover-turned-takeout building and walked behind a number of unlit houses to reach his destination.

Sanggyun and Sangwon were both lingering thoughts in Hojoon’s mind, but he was more focused on disabling Dacus’s alarm system. He was new to the process of disabling wiring alarm systems via suppressing radio signals, but it wasn’t incredibly complicated, as long as he didn’t think too hard about it. He made a new record of breaking into the house- eleven minutes and forty-six seconds. 

Hojoon stepped through the back door and quietly locked it behind him. His hand tightened around the grip of his .22, which was safely tucked into a holster at his hip. Information from the file folder he’d been given days prior danced around his mind. Tristan Dacus was a sales manager, thirty-two years old, living alone. Single, no children, only living relative living several miles away. 

He lived in a two story house, and owned an old dog who was deaf in one ear and had a bad leg. Hojoon wasn’t even the slightest bit upset that he’d have to shoot the dog. It was probably best to put the thing out of its misery. 

A house layout had been included in the information file, and Dacus’ room had been marked on there. Upstairs, at the far left end of the hallway. Hojoon had only taken two steps towards the stairwell when his plans to shoot the man in his sleep were drastically changed.

The sound of shattering glass pierced the air, and an empty round fell to the ground along with the shards of glass. Hojoon quickly realized someone had shot out the kitchen window. 

He didn’t have time to react before a lit Molotov cocktail soared through the window. 

The flaming projectile shattered on a curtain-covered window and created a fireball that momentarily lit up the dark household and nearly seared Hojoon's eyebrows off. When the initial brightness faded, Hojoon registered a couple of things: there were footsteps crunching in the glass behind him, and another set of them coming from the front of the house, which must've entered from either door or window. And, of course, flames were steadily consuming the curtains and surrounding wall. 

Hojoon whipped around and blindly fired two rounds in the direction of the footsteps, and could tell almost instantly that he had missed. Not a second later, a body suddenly collided with his own. 

His gun went flying as Hojoon slammed into the ground, head cracking unpleasantly against the tile floor. His ears were ringing from the collision and the heat of the fire, but he recognized the cackle from the body now on top of him well enough; Sanggyun. 

Sanggyun instantly hooked his shins under the ditch of Hojoon's knees, preventing him from squirming or bucking his hips. He made a grab for Sanggyun and ended up with a fistful of hair, which he yanked on harshly. For a moment, he felt a sense of satisfaction- it quickly disappeared when Sanggyun's fist collided with his face. 

His teeth cut into his lip and Hojoon instantly tasted blood, but that didn't stop him from thrashing as much as he could, trying to destabilize Sanggyun. He could weakly hear conflict upstairs- shouting, thumping as bodies collided with walls. Sangwon must've been the one to come through the front of the house, and now he was trying to kill  _ Hojoon's  _ target. 

Rage surged through Hojoon’s mind, and he began blindly slashing at Sanggyun’s face with his nails. They cut through something soft and wet, causing Sanggyun to stagger back with a shriek. 

Hojoon quickly got back up on his feet and grabbed his gun, looking back at Sanggyun. He was trying to get back onto his feet, one hand still pressing against the eye that Hojoon had scratched. He dived at Hojoon again, this time for his legs, causing Hojoon to miss the shot aimed at his head. Sanggyun’s reaction time was slow, though, and Hojoon scrambled backwards once he hit the ground and firmly kicked Sanggyun in the face. Blood instantly began streaming from his nose. 

Before the arsonist had a chance to get back up, Hojoon pressed the barrel of his gun against Sanggyun’s temple and pulled the trigger.

A soupy spray of blood and bone hit the carpet, followed by Sanggyun’s body. Hojoon wasted no time in stepping over him and sprinting up the stairs- he could still hear Sangwon fighting with his target. 

The fire was steadily spreading through the house, and Hojoon could feel a deep, burning pain in his lungs from inhaling smoke while he fought with Sanggyun. It was only marginally better in the upper level of the house. Wheezing, Hojoon entered the room and saw Sangwon straddling Dacus, hands around his neck.

Hand clutching his gun tightly enough that his knuckles turned white, Hojoon launched himself at Sangwon and effectively knocked the younger man off of Dacus. Almost immediately, Sangwon slammed his knee between Hojoon’s leg and shoved him off. 

Groaning in pain and vaguely aware that Dacus was trying to get back on his feet, still coughing and hacking from being choked, he raised his gun and shot out the bedroom window. 

He staggered to his feet, head pounding. He felt like he couldn’t get enough air in, like his chest was constricting more and more. The heat from the fire, which had now engulfed the stairwell and Sanggyun’s body, had only grown more oppressive.

Sangwon had pulled out a knife and made quick work of slitting Dacus’ throat. The man was now slumped over against a wall, blood and air bubbling from his split trachea. He’d whipped around at the sound of Hojoon shooting out the window and, much like Sanggyun had, charged at Hojoon with the knife. 

Hojoon sidestepped and shoved Sangwon as hard as he could towards the window, causing him to trip and fall in the broken glass. A second later, Hojoon placed a bullet right below his eye, and sent a second through his forehead.

For a moment, all he could do was stand there, surrounded by smoke and broken glass. Hojoon could hardly catch his breath. He staggered towards the window, nearly tripping over Sangwon’s body, and jumped out the window. He managed to land on his side, sending a bolt of pain up his arm, but saving his head from any impact. A strangled moan escaped from his lips when he tried to push himself up- his shoulder was probably dislocated. 

Hojoon knew it was only a matter of time before police showed up. Moving like a poorly animated scarecrow, he managed to stand up and began stumbling towards his car. All he could hear was the sound of his own labored breathing as he reached his vehicle, shoving his keys in the ignition and leaving as quickly as he could.

 

The next day, Hojoon met with Sehyuk at an abandoned manufacturing plant, the same one they’d met in when he originally assigned the task to the arsonist duo. Sehyuk used it as a cover spot and to meet members of the Seoul network. 

He grinned as he watched Hojoon walk in, moving as if his every step was painful. A patchwork of bruises had developed beneath his eyes and around the bridge of his nose. “Rough night?”

“I suppose you could say that.”

“I saw Dacus’s obituary this morning. Arson was pinned as the cause- they found three sets of partially cremated bones left behind, and figured two of them belonged to intruders who had started the fire and been unable to escape.” 

Hojoon snorted; the idea of Sanggyun and Sangwon starting a fire and then being unable to escape the house amused him.

“Anyway, here’s your payment.” He handed Hojoon a plastic bag filled with neatly rolled $100 bills. “Our client tipped generously. Something tells me he might be coming back again.”

Hojoon nodded and accepted the money. “Oh, Sehyuk? There’s something I meant to tell you.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t ever pull that ‘impromptu skill assessment’ shit with me again, or I’ll hire someone to kill  _ you. _ ”

Sehyuk just laughed and waved his hand dismissively. “Whatever. Get out of here, man. I’ll text you when we’ve got a new assignment for you.”

Hojoon nodded and headed back to the parking lot. He was looking forward to a day off. 

 


End file.
